NATIVE-CENTRIC ART FAIR IN THE ERA OF BLOCK CHAIN MUSEUM: A RELIGIOUS AND BIOETHICAL ANALYSIS

The rise of digital museums, especially those leveraging emerging technologies like blockchain, has transformed the way art is curated, accessed, and commercialized. However, this shift poses complex challenges for Native-centric art fairs. Native-centric artistic expression is deeply rooted in spiritual, communal, and cultural traditions and has provided platforms for showcasing authentic artworks. The problem lies in the potential erosion of Indigenous values in an ethical, digitized, or commodified environment. This study addresses the technological advancements in digital curation, but there exists a gap in understanding how digital museums affect Indigenous art, communities, particularly from a religious and bioethical standpoint. The objective of this research is to critically analyze the ethical and religious implications of integrating Native-centric art into digital museums, focusing on how these platforms align or conflict with Indigenous value systems. A philosophical method of analysis is adopted in this study to critically review digital museum infrastructures and their ethical protocols. The research findings reveal a significant dissonance between the individualistic, ownership-based logic of digital museums and the collective, sacred nature of many Native art forms. The contributions of this study lie in foregrounding Indigenous epistemologies in digital ethics discourse and introducing a framework that integrates religious values and bioethical considerations into digital curation practices. Recommendations include adopting community-driven consent mechanisms, ensuring digital sovereignty for Indigenous data, and establishing intercultural ethical guidelines for the digitization of sacred, cultural heritage and ethical collaboration between Indigenous communities, technologists to build inclusive and respectful digital futures.